Absolutely! But middle/upper class families aren't helping the situation. We have people who start saving for college for fetuses. When you are 18 and you know you've got some hunk of change for college and people are telling you "college," than it doesn't seem like you'd be likely to go to trade school. It seems like you'd be betraying your family's expectations of you. There's also a cultural expectation that if you don't go to college you're nothing or stupid.
See Mike Rowe (of the show Dirty Jobs) for his opinion on the matter:
Exactly - my wife and I were having a discussion about our son going to University and the general conclusion we came to was that if he isn't really clear on why he wants to go to University then we'll advise him to do something else first. The University course I did in the UK was, oddly, traditionally half-full of Norwegians who were all in their mid 20s - didn't seem to do them any harm!
My brother has also just started university and he told me he's seen exactly the same thing. Of the 9 close friends that went off to university at the same time as him, only 2 are still on their courses. A few dropped out, most changed courses but won't be able to start the new courses until the next academic year.
Very few people know what they want to do at 18, and many don't know what studying their chosen subject will really be like.
I was really surprised by this because I knew what course I wanted to do at university when I was 13, I thought it was Electronic Engineering, until I found out that Computer Science existed, at which point I immediately recognised that as what I wanted to do. I assumed everyone was like that, but I have friends who at 21-23 are still trying to work out what they want to do.
if he told kids not to go to college he'd probably hear from angry parents and school administrator
I imagine he's never heard from an angry ex student who he told to go to college
But any naive ex-student might be frustrated that he made some bad decisions with questionable advice. It's not fair to blame the counselor completely I guess. You'd think that the student seeks other resources to make informed decisions.
Side story related to higher education: My friend's counselor suggested she apply to school in this manner: Apply to 3 Ivy leagues, then 3 reputable out of state schools, then 1 in state school.
What kind of advice is that to give to an 18-year old who only has an inkling of what they'd like to do after college? I swear this guy misguided many students.